Nonwoven webs have been used to produce a variety of articles useful, for example, as absorbent wipes or abrasive scrubbers for surface cleaning, as wound dressings, as gas and liquid absorbent or filtration media, as barrier materials for heat or sound absorption, and as floor mats. In some applications, it may be desirable to use a shaped nonwoven web. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,575,874 and 5,643,653 (Griesbach, III et al.) disclose shaped nonwoven fabrics and methods of making such shaped nonwoven webs. In other applications, it may be desirable to use a nonwoven web having a textured surface, for example, as a nonwoven fabric in which the fibers are pattern bonded with an adhesive binder material, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,093,665 (Sayovitz et al.); or in which a meltblown fiber layer is formed on a patterning belt and subsequently laminated between two air-laid fiber layers.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,858,515 (Stokes), U.S. Pat. No. 6,921,570 (Belau), and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2003/0119404 (Belau) describe lamination methods, some of which include use of patterned nip rollers, for producing structured multi-layer nonwoven webs from two or more meltblown fiber webs. The use of a patterned template, roller or belt to form a structured web from meltblown or melt-spun fibers or filaments has been described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,103,058 (Humlicek), U.S. Pat. No. 4,252,590 (Rasen et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 4,741,941 (Englebert et al.); EP Patent Application Nos. 1 160 367 A2 and 1 323 857 A2; and PCT International Publication No. WO 00/29656 (Bontaites).